On Christmas Day, two strangers discovered love aboard a plane.

For Catalina Bernal Andrade, Christmas in 2009 was anything but ordinary.

That year, Catalina's father had been diagnosed with colon cancer, and at 31, she had returned to her childhood home in Bogotá, Colombia, to care for him during his treatment.

Despite the difficult circumstances, the family still celebrated Christmas with the joy they could muster. In Colombia, the main holiday celebrations occur on December 24, and it's customary to stay awake all night. Catalina and her family embraced the festive spirit with food, drinks, and merriment through the night.

After just a few hours of sleep, Catalina and her mother rose early on Christmas morning to make their way to El Dorado International Airport.

Catalina’s father had urged his wife and daughter to take a vacation between Christmas and the New Year.

“He was going through chemotherapy and a particularly tough treatment,” Catalina recalls. “He wanted my mom and me to take a break, so we decided on a fun holiday to Disney World for the week,” she tells Dinogo Travel today.

Catalina and her mother boarded their JetBlue flight to Orlando, Florida, finding their seats—Catalina in the middle, her mother by the aisle, and a stranger by the window.

As the captain wished the passengers a “Merry Christmas” over the intercom, Catalina looked around and assumed that many of the travelers were headed to the U.S. to be with family for the holidays.

“I remember seeing a lot of carry-on bags packed with gifts,” Catalina adds.

Though there were several families on the flight, Catalina’s window seat neighbor appeared to be traveling solo. A man in his 30s, he sat quietly with his book, headphones on, seemingly enjoying his own space. Catalina appreciated his quiet demeanor.

“I was telling my mom how difficult the past few months had been and how we needed to unwind before my dad’s upcoming surgeries,” Catalina recalls.

As the flight took off, Catalina’s mother soon drifted off to sleep. In fact, most of the passengers appeared to be napping, likely exhausted from the previous night’s celebrations.

A couple of hours into the flight, the flight attendant passed Catalina a US immigration form to fill out. In 2009, these forms were still paper-based and hadn't yet been digitized.

“I was alone filling out the form, but I didn’t know the flight number. So, I turned to the man sitting next to me,” Catalina recalls.

Feeling a bit awkward, knowing she was interrupting him, Catalina tried to get his attention.

“He was listening to his iPod, so I nervously said, ‘Hi, sorry to bother you, but could you tell me the flight number?’

The man in the window seat removed one of his headphones to hear her better.

“123,” he answered curtly, then quickly put his headphone back in and returned to his book without a word.

Catalina filled out the forms—one for herself and one for her mother. But as she reviewed them afterward, she realized she had made an error.

Frustrated, she tore up the forms and asked the flight attendant for another set, starting the process over again.

Now feeling flustered, she had already forgotten the flight number. She turned to the man next to her once more.

“I’m so sorry to bother you again, but could you please remind me of the flight number?” she asked, hoping he’d be more helpful this time.

This time, to Catalina's surprise, the man responded with a friendlier tone.

“Sure, no problem,” he said, this time taking both of his headphones out.

The stranger had his ticket resting on his lap, and Catalina glanced at the name printed at the top: “Mauricio García Marulanda.”

Coincidentally, Catalina knew someone with the same name, and she mentioned it out loud. That comment led to a proper introduction, and soon they were chatting.

As it turned out, Mauricio wasn’t traveling solo. He was flying with several family members, including his mother, to visit his sister in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mauricio shared with Catalina his love for music and revealed that he had spent much of his adult life as a musician, though recently he had returned to college to pursue a degree in psychology.

Similarly, Catalina had also gone back to school later in life, transitioning from a career in entrepreneurship to one in education in her late 20s.

When they discovered this shared experience, their conversation moved beyond casual chatter to something more meaningful. Mauricio confessed that his career shift had been part of a broader reevaluation of his life.

“We began discussing much deeper matters,” he recalls. “I told her I had been in rehab and struggled with drugs and alcohol, and she opened up about her own experiences.”

Catalina spoke about her father’s illness and how challenging the past year had been for her and her family.

It turned out that both Mauricio and Catalina had recently moved back in with their parents—Mauricio after dealing with addiction, and Catalina to care for her father following his diagnosis.

“We just completely opened up to each other—that’s how it all began. It wasn’t just a friendship; it was pure honesty from the very start,” Mauricio reflects.

“I told her, ‘I don’t have much—just a battered Volkswagen Beetle my grandmother gave me and three guitars.’ We were totally honest with each other,” Mauricio says.

Catalina shared how, in her 20s, she had been solely focused on making money. She told Mauricio about how she left it all behind, spent some time in India, and then decided to return to school.

“It was like, ‘I don’t really know this guy, and I have nothing to hide because he doesn’t know me, and I don’t know him. I can just be myself for the next two hours,’” Catalina explains.

As the plane began its descent into Orlando, Catalina pulled a US SIM card from her bag and swapped out the Colombian one in her phone.

Taking advantage of the moment, Mauricio asked for Catalina’s phone number. She agreed, giving him her temporary US number, her Colombian number, and her email. Mauricio quickly jotted the details down in a small notebook.

Earlier, Mauricio had mentioned his music, particularly a song he had written called “Libre” (“Freedom”).

“Send me that song when you get a chance,” Catalina requested as the plane began to descend.

At the baggage claim, Mauricio and Catalina found themselves standing across from each other at the luggage carousel. Catalina’s mother pointed him out to her.

“What on earth do you talk about for two hours? I couldn’t sleep,” Catalina’s mother asked when she saw her. “Who was that guy?”

“He’s going to be the father of my children,” Catalina joked. But as the words left her mouth, she realized she actually meant them.

“Well, if he’s going to be the father of your children, you’d better go over and say a proper goodbye,” her mother advised.

By that point, Mauricio was surrounded by the family members who had been seated elsewhere on the plane.

“No, that’s too embarrassing,” Catalina protested. “He’s with his mom and everyone else.”

Eventually, after some encouragement from her mother, Catalina gave in. She made her way through the crowd to the other side of the baggage carousel. There, she introduced herself to Mauricio’s family and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek to say goodbye.

“I think her mother gave her really good advice,” Mauricio reflects today. “That moment, when she came over and said goodbye, was like the deal maker for me.”

At that moment, Mauricio realized their connection wasn’t just a passing encounter.

“I thought, ‘This is someone special,’” he says. “I remember my family teasing me, asking ‘Who’s that?’ and making fun of me, but it was a pivotal moment for us, I think, when she came over.”

New Year’s greetings.

After arriving in the United States, Mauricio and his family drove to Tennessee, making an overnight stop in Georgia. During the layover, he sent Catalina an email with a link to his song on MySpace.

The next day, Catalina read the email and replied promptly, sharing a link to her blog that she had maintained while living in India. These first two emails soon turned into daily text messages over the following days.

Catalina was enjoying her time in Orlando and the welcome distraction of Disney World.

However, she couldn’t stop worrying about her father and found herself constantly thinking about him.

“I was dealing with this incredibly painful situation with my dad. I’m an only child, very close to him, and he was in very poor health,” she reflects.

Mauricio was a source of comfort, replying with heartfelt and thoughtful emails.

“I remember he sent me a Coldplay song, ‘Fix You,’” Catalina recalls. “He wrote, ‘I know you’re going through a tough time, let me help fix you,’ and shared the song link. That became our song.”

“It’s a beautiful song,” Mauricio says fondly.

On New Year’s Eve, Mauricio called Catalina just before midnight to wish her a Happy New Year.

Catalina was in the middle of Disney World when she answered the call.

“I’m at Epcot Center, the fireworks are about to start, so I won’t be able to hear you for much longer,” Catalina told Mauricio.

“I just wanted to wish you a Happy New Year, and we can chat tomorrow,” Mauricio replied.

After hanging up, Catalina’s mother asked who had called.

“The guy from the plane,” Catalina answered.

“That’s quite significant,” her mother remarked.

On New Year’s Day 2010, Catalina and Mauricio spent several hours chatting on Skype. Catalina was in her hotel room at Disney World, with her mother just a few feet away. Mauricio was at his sister’s house, surrounded by his nieces. Occasionally, a family member would pop into the call to wish Catalina a ‘Happy New Year.’

During the call, Mauricio opened up about his rehab journey in more detail. Catalina listened intently. By the end of the conversation, they made plans to meet once they were both back in Colombia.

Falling in love

The evening Mauricio returned to Bogotá, he went directly to Catalina’s home.

He was feeling nervous.

“The plane felt like a neutral space, but Bogotá is our city – the place where we were both born and raised,” he says.

He arrived with gifts – a rubber duck, a candle, and some high-end soap, all part of a ‘relaxation kit’ meant to help Catalina cope with the stress of her family’s health challenges.

“I thought it was a bit suggestive,” Catalina says, laughing.

“But it wasn’t a date,” Catalina clarifies. “I wasn’t dressed up or anything. He just came in and said, ‘Hey, how’s it going? I brought this for you.’ We spent some time chatting in my room. It wasn’t a date, just another conversation,” she explains.

Their next meeting took place at Mauricio’s mother’s house, where he cooked Catalina dinner and they continued their conversation.

Things progressed quickly and naturally between them from that point on.

“Let’s skip all the nonsense and just be ourselves,” Mauricio says, describing their approach to their relationship.

It turned out that Mauricio and Catalina had mutual friends who all remarked that they would never have imagined the two of them together.

“He was an artist, played the drums, had that hipster vibe – and I was this businesswoman always in heels,” Catalina recalls.

“If we had met in Bogotá, we probably wouldn’t have even spoken. Our backgrounds were so different. It had to happen on a plane, a neutral space,” says Mauricio.

Mauricio’s family was thrilled for him, and they absolutely adored Catalina.

Catalina’s father took some time to warm up to the idea. This was partly because of his serious illness and because he didn’t meet Mauricio until several months later.

Additionally, Catalina had been engaged twice before in her 20s. When she told her parents that Mauricio was ‘the one,’ her father, in particular, was doubtful.

The situation felt especially tense because of her father’s illness. He wanted Catalina to be around people who would truly support her.

“He wasn’t sure if he would recover or if he would pass,” says Catalina. “I think he felt that, if he were to go, he needed to leave me in good hands.”

Over time, though, Mauricio showed that he was fully committed to Catalina, proving himself as someone she could rely on completely.

Against all expectations, Catalina’s father made a full recovery from his cancer, eventually receiving the all-clear from his doctors.

As Catalina’s father regained his health, he grew close to Mauricio. When the couple decided to marry in 2011, Catalina’s parents generously contributed to their wedding fund.

The couple chose to keep their wedding simple, using the money instead for a three-month backpacking honeymoon.

During their honeymoon, Catalina and Mauricio traveled through the United States, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Thailand, and Cambodia, exploring each destination together.

13 years later

Now, 13 years after their chance meeting on a plane, Mauricio and Catalina are still living in Bogotá, where they spend their time planning their next adventure.

The one big change is that, these days, when they board a plane, their 7-year-old daughter, Luna, is right there with them.

“We want to teach our daughter that travel is a vital part of life,” says Mauricio. “It’s not about getting comfortable in one place or sticking to one culture, but about exploring other places, meeting different people, and trying new foods. That’s the essence of what we love.”

Mauricio and Catalina are convinced that they would never have fallen in love if they hadn’t shared that first conversation on the plane.

“Traveling opens your mind in ways that staying in your comfort zone never will,” says Mauricio. “That openness helped us be so honest and receptive with each other.”

Every Christmas, Catalina and Mauricio take a moment to reflect on how their journey together began on December 25th.

Catalina says the date they met is “even more significant than our wedding anniversary.”

In Colombia, gifts are traditionally exchanged on Christmas Eve.

“But for us, we usually exchange gifts on Christmas morning, on the 25th,” Catalina shares. “It’s always a reminder of the day our relationship began.”

Though their shared passion for travel has always been a unifying force in their relationship, Mauricio and Catalina emphasize that they are both still pursuing their own individual paths as well.

“We’re still quite different,” Catalina admits. “We have very separate social circles.”

While Catalina enjoys socializing with friends over drinks, Mauricio prefers staying in – unless it’s for a music gig.

“We make a conscious effort to honor who we were,” Catalina explains. “We’re still the same people we were before marriage, of course. But we’ve created a life where we can align on the most important values.”